Humanity
by NeroLieto
Summary: Elijah rediscovers his humanity after a chance meeting with a kind hearted mortal girl. Elijah/OC, starts before season 2.
1. Chapter 1

There was nothing truly spectacular about her. Nothing at all. She was undeniably beautiful for a mortal, with long blonde hair, pale white skin, and bright blue eyes. But the fact was that in his thousand years on this planet, beautiful women had become a sort of commodity. He'd seen more stunning, that was for sure, so he could rule out her physical appearance being what attracted him.

She was a sweet little thing, smiling at everyone she passed on the street despite not knowing them at all. He'd watched as a middle aged women dropped a stack of folders she'd been carrying and the girl had crossed the road purely to help the woman pick them up. True, selfless kindness was rare in this day and age, but still not exactly something that made her highly individual. He'd met Mother Teresa for God's sakes.

She was little, probably only 5'2 at best. Only twenty one years old. She didn't dress in the latest fashion trends. She hummed to herself even when she was around other people. She worked in a bakery and she always had flour on her. She was totally and completely average in every single way; everything about her was common, familiar, seen before.

But he still watched her. He was still fascinated by her.

It had begun a few weeks ago when he was simply passing through the area and he'd picked up a peculiar scent when he was walking through town. Curious as to what it could be, he'd followed it and stumbled across her bakery soon enough. She hadn't seen him and they made no contact, but his passing through had soon become an extended stay, all so he could watch this average little mortal girl as she went about her average little life.

He knew that he had other things to be doing; finding the Petrova doppelganger had become more important than ever, and yet he still lingered in this small town.

Elijah made up his mind then. He wasn't a fool, he was a man of reason. There was no real reason for him to linger here, and so he would leave tonight and that was that.

* * *

The bakery always shut after dark and she had to walk home alone, but Amelia didn't mind. She'd grown up in this town and felt as safe walking the empty, pitch black streets as she did when she was tucked into bed at home. Not only that, but she knew almost everyone who lived in the tiny town she called home, so when she passed the four men sitting in the gutter with a stack of empty bottles between them, she gave them a friendly smile and not even a backwards glance.

'Hey!' one of them called after her, standing up and running over to her after a second of gathering his balance. 'You're the bakery girl!'

She turned, her blonde hair flipping over her shoulder. She didn't remember these men's names, probably because they were about ten years older than her and she would have only had the bare minimum contact with them in the bakery. Despite this, she smiled up at him when he approached her, and it faded only slightly when he threw his arm over her shoulder and pulled her back towards his friends.

'Mitch,' he called to his friend, and Amelia had the feeling that he would have fallen on his face if his arm wasn't around her shoulder. 'Mitch, this is the girl who makes those cupcakes. You know the tiny ones with the strawberrys?'

Mitch and the other man stood now. 'Aw, yeah, man. That shit's good, Brian. Will you make us some of them?' he asked, directing his gaze down to Amelia now.

'Um,' she said quietly, 'there will be some in the bakery first thing tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I really have to get going-'

'What's your rush?' the one who had remained silent up until this point asked, and his voice seemed steadier than the others. 'We're just having fun. Here,' he bent and picked up a bottle before forcing it into her hands, 'have fun with us.'

'Yeah! Have fun with us, bakery girl!' Brian laughed loudly, pushing her hand back as Amelia tried to hand the bottle to him.

'I- I really shouldn't,' she said, her eyes darting between them. Only the unnamed man held her stare every time her eyes rested on him. 'I have to get home… if you want those cupcakes in the morning, I'll have to get home and make them soon…'

Brian seemed to consider this, and in that time Amelia managed to duck out from under his arm. 'I'll see you boys in the morning,' she said firmly when Brian turned to look at her, before turning and walking away from them.

'Hey, bakery girl! We aren't done having fun yet!' she recognised the unnamed man call, and when she heard stumbling footsteps behind her, she broke into a sprint.

She made it about as far as the second alleyway along the street before one of the men caught up with her, his hand coming up to cover her mouth as he pushed her into the alley. Her blood pumping so loud she could hear it, she turned and pushed him as hard as she could away from her, not pausing to watch him stumble against the dumpster before she ran again.

Brian and Mitch had made it to the alleyway by this point, and they were laughing.

'Bakery girl got fight in her!' Brian laughed, distracting himself and Mitch enough for Amelia to run at them and try and push her way out of the alley. She made it to the curb before one of them grabbed her hair and yanked her back so hard she was flung to the ground, and let out the loudest scream possible. There had to still be people around- maybe Angus would still be in the bakery and he would hear- someone had to still be in the street somewhere!

'Hey!' she heard Mitch yell before his hand descend over her mouth, blocking the sound, as the man who had grabbed her hair pulled her to her feet. In her panic she managed to pull back from Mitch and keep screaming- someone had to hear her!- until the one behind her pulled her back into the alley and pushed her face first against the wall.

She hit it hard, her head bouncing off of the concrete before she stumbled to the ground.

'Now why you gotta go and do that for? I told you, we just want to have some fun,' the unnamed man said, his voice dark as he grinned and began to approach her as she pushed herself as far back against the wall as possible, her breathing getting heavier as her eyesight got blurrier.

Through her blurry vision, she watched as the unnamed man and Brian approached her. Mitch was standing in the background watching, until suddenly, he was no longer there.

She let out a gasp as Mitch disappeared, and suddenly there was a yell from the other end of the alleyway. Both men before her turned to look, and as she watched Brian disappeared just as suddenly as Mitch.

'What the fuck!' the unnamed man gasped, stumbling backwards as he tripped over his own feet.

'Such language,' came a disapproving voice from the mouth of the alley. 'It really isn't very gentlemanly of you.'

Amelia turned her head at the same time the man standing above her did to see a person standing there. Her eyesight clearing slightly, Amelia was able to make out that he was a tall, slender man wearing a suit, before he disappeared, causing the unnamed man to let out a yell as he suddenly reappeared behind him.

He turned, stumbling in his shock and falling backwards. The newcomer towered above him as he pushed himself backwards, whimpering as he pushed himself to his feet and made a break for the alleys exit.

In a second, the newcomer was in front of him, and Amelia watched as the unnamed man let out a yell before the both of them disappeared from her sight.

For a moment, she simply stared at where the men had disappeared from, her mouth gaping open in complete shock. In the blink of an eye, the man was kneeling down before her, causing her to let out a startled gasp.

'What- who- how-' she managed to stutter out, her eyes widening as she stared up at him, half his face shadowed by the dark night, the other half illuminated by the dim light coming from the alley. 'You- you saved me,' she finally managed to get a whole sentence out, and it made the man smile sardonically.

'We'll see about that,' he said quietly, and the last thing she felt was his arms wrapping around her and hoisting her off the ground before she passed out against his shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

His things were already packed up in his suitcase when he decided to check up on her one last time. He'd already made half of the journey by the time his thoughts caught up with his actions and he realised he didn't have a valid reason to be seeking her out again, but he reasoned, what did it matter? This pit stop would take five minutes at maximum and he would be out of town by sunrise.

It was almost 10:30pm by the time he reached the bakery and it was already empty. Frustrated with himself for bothering to make the journey here in the first place, he was about to return home when he heard a scream, and instinctively he somehow knew it was her. He turned in time to see her at the other end of the street being pulled into an alleyway by a large man gripping her hair.

Elijah appeared at the mouth of the alley in a second, just in time to hear one of the men saying 'we just want to have some fun.' He saw red after that, and two of the men were dead at the other end of the alley before he even made the conscious decision to kill them. Their deaths were swift, and mostly painless, which was more than Elijah could say for the man who appeared to be the ringleader. Elijah had decided that his death would be painful the moment he'd seen him lay his hands on Amelia. And the man (could Elijah even call him a man? Men didn't prey on women half their size… especially not ones as gentle as this one) had died painfully.

The girl had surprised him, after everything. He had never planned to reveal his presence to her in all the time he'd spent watching her, and in fact had gone to great lengths to avoid doing so. Even if he had eventually decided to introduce himself, he definitely had no intention of revealing the supernatural quality of his existence to her, but he tried to reason with himself that he'd had no choice. Of course she would fear him, and curse him, and run from him, and all the other pathetic reactions that humans always came out with when they found out about his kind.

But she hadn't. The men had been smart enough to know to be terrified, but as they died the scent of fear lingering on the air died with them. And then, eventually, she'd managed to say 'you saved me,' in a tone so reverent she made it sound as though Elijah was some knight in shining armour. Ha! _Him?_ He was more like the monster the knight had to defeat. And yet, when her head wound had eventually overcome her and caused her to pass out, she'd subconsciously leaned in closer to him as he carried her out of the alley.

What a strange thing. He'd have to attribute it to the head wound; nobody in their right mind could have seen what he'd done and still seek him as a source of comfort.

* * *

By the time she awoke it was already bright outside. He lounged in the window seat, a copy of _the Picture of Dorian Gray _open on his lap when she let out a gasp and her heartbeat sped up, alerting him to the fact that she was awake. Lazily, he turned his head to look at her, closing his book quietly. She was sitting up, rubbing the bandage he'd placed over the mark on her head wound last night and looking thoroughly confused.

She was blinking hurriedly, as though trying to clear her head, when she turned her head slightly and spotted him. Immediately, her heartbeat slowed down significantly. Elijah was unsure of what to make of her reaction, so he broke the silence.

'You're awake. That's good, you've been out for a few hours now.'

The girl ignored his statement, and immediately began asking questions. 'Who are you? Where am I?' she asked, her voice scratchy and still laced with sleepiness.

'Ah, how rude of me,' he said. 'My name is Elijah Mikaelson, and you are in my home.'

It was a temporary home, but that information wasn't exactly pressing.

'Elijah,' she repeated his name quietly, as though testing it out, and he felt a shiver run down his spine. What did this girl do to him?! 'My name is Amelia Stone… Why am I here? What happened last night?!'

She threw the covers back and attempted to stand up, but dizziness hit her and within a second she was stumbling to the ground. Elijah was by her side in a second, hoisting her up into his arms to place her back onto the bed. She let out a surprised gasp, the whole event having happened too quickly for her to comprehend even moving. 'How- how did you do that?! You did it last night, too!'

Elijah kept his hand resting on her lower back as he stared at her in surprise. Nobody had surprised him like this in over 500 years- this tiny mortal girl could never hope to defend herself against him and she knew it, but she wasn't afraid of him. The stutter of her heartbeat had been one of surprise when he had appeared at her side, but still not one of fear. This girl actually gravitated closer to his hand on her back instead of further away. He was totally and utterly stumped, and for a moment all he could do was stare at her.

'You aren't afraid of me?' he asked slowly, the words tasting wrong on his tongue.

She shook her head. 'You saved me,' she repeated what she'd said last night, as though it settled the matter. 'But- how? You were so fast…'

Elijah knew it was depraved of him, but on a deep, primitive level, he wanted this girl to be afraid of him. She should be, it was a natural instinct for mortals- he was a predator and they were his prey. But this girl had developed an idea in her head that he was some sort of hero and that wasn't something he knew how to handle. And so, with a small, mocking smile, he leaned in very close to her, hovering over her slightly on the bed as she leant back to rest her weight on her hands, trying to maintain her eye contact with him. Elijah bent and nudged his nose against the pulse point of her neck, noting in satisfaction when she gasped lightly, and he brought his head up to whisper against her ear, 'I'm a vampire, my dear.'

For a short moment, her entire body tensed up, before it began to shake. He smiled in satisfaction- and then she snorted, and he realised she was laughing at him, not crying as he'd originally assumed.

This was not the reaction he'd been seeking.

He pulled away from her completely and stared in shock. What in the world was wrong with this girl? Why had he been so enamoured with her these past few weeks?! She was clearly insane!

'Are you serious, dude?' she giggled.

'_Dude?'_ he repeated, totally affronted. He was an Original, for god's sakes- people didn't laugh at him! Especially not tiny mortal girls! He could tear her apart!

'I'm sorry, but… a vampire? What, like Count Dracula, _'I vant to suck your blood'_ kind of thing…? Are you _pouting_?'

In a second, his eyes had darkened and his fangs were out, and she finally let out a more fearful gasp, jumping back from him. He pushed her back down onto the bed forcefully and lowered his head to her throat- he didn't bite her, but she knew that he could have, and for now, that was enough.

'Oh my God,' she breathed out when he pulled away from her, his face returning to its normal state. 'You really are a vampire… how is that possible?!'

Elijah merely shrugged, deciding going into details as to how he'd become a vampire would be answering her question with a bit of overkill. Besides, she didn't pause for long enough to hear the answer, anyway.

'I mean… wow! I grew up reading Dracula and Twilight and- and- wait, are you the only thing that's real? Or are werewolves and fairies real too?!'

'You're asking too many questions,' Elijah said snappishly.

'Of course I'm asking questions! I've lived twenty one years of my life thinking that things are a certain way, only to find out that there's this whole other world that's been staring me in the face and I never knew it was there!' she cried. 'This is- this is amazing!'

Elijah didn't respond, because he'd just realised that the tone of her voice wasn't fearful- it was excited. 'You should be afraid of me,' he pointed out, very validly in his opinion.

'Well, I mean… I always dreamed of a magical world as a child and now I'm discovering that it really exists,' Amelia answered thoughtfully, 'And… I don't think you'll hurt me.'

Raising his eyebrows, he said back 'I very easily could. You saw what I did to those men last night.'

'Yes, but, that's exactly my point; you saved me from those men. I think if you were going to hurt me you would have done it already, but instead you bandaged my head and found me a place to sleep,' she paused for a second, before saying slowly 'I haven't thanked you properly for that yet… I'm sorry, that's_ so_ rude of me…'

Elijah considered what she'd said for a moment, and found himself surprisingly confused. He didn't like that this girl was so confident in her safety around him when she had no right to be, and yet in direct contrast, he found that his body had subconsciously moved closer to her again. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he got to his feet, needing to put some space between them. 'Yes, well. You've had a rough few hours, so that can be forgiven.'

As he turned to leave, her tiny hand shot out and grasped his much larger fingers, tugging slightly so he turned back to look at her. 'Thank you,' she said, in the most sincere tone she was capable of, 'I don't know what would have happened to me if you weren't there. Thank you.'

Elijah stared down at her for a moment, unsure of what to do or say. In the end, he didn't acknowledge what she'd said at all before he turned and left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

He'd only had around ten minutes to himself when he heard Amelia's light footsteps padding out of the bedroom. She'd been up and exploring the room so he knew it was only a matter of time before she sought him out again. It took her under a minute to come down the staircase and find where he stood in the kitchen, and when she spotted him, she hurried over to him, as though being alone was a frightening concept. He supposed in this large, foreign house where there could have been other vampires for all she knew, perhaps it was. She stopped beside him and he glanced down at her, away from his phone, to realise that she was shorter up close than he'd originally realised watching her from afar. She barely came up to his shoulder.

She stayed silent and simply looked up at him with her big blue eyes, and he raised his eyebrows to ask her what she wanted. 'So, um… do vampires eat… _normal_ food?' she eventually asked hesitantly. 'Ya know, apart from the blood…'

Elijah smirked down at her. 'Not really, but there might be a few things in the cupboards. Feel free to check,' he said, nodding his head towards the cupboard doors. She nodded and padded towards them, sticking her head in curiously. The small exchange seemed to have given her a boost of confidence, because as she re-emerged from the cupboard doors with a packet of biscuits left by the former occupants of the house and hoisted herself up to sit on the counter across from him, she began to speak.

'So… this_ vampire thing_,' she began as she ripped the biscuit packet open. 'There's a whole lot of lore about you guys… What's right and what's wrong? Did the media get you right? Do you sleep in a coffin?!'

'No, I do not!' he replied, affronted. 'I sleep in a bed, thank you very much!'

She put her hands up in a mock gesture of surrender. 'I'm learning as I go here, sorry. You're clearly walking through sunlight, too, so the burning thing is a lie.'

'No, that one is true, actually. We're natural night dwellers, but I can walk in sunlight.'

'Really?!' She asked, her tone turning from curious to excited. 'Well, what makes you so special? Why can't the others do it? Wait, how many others are there?!'

Elijah ignored the first part of her question, and she didn't ask again- he may be indulging her at the moment, but he wouldn't give her all his secrets, and apparently she was willing to accept what she could get. 'There's quite a few of us,' he answered vaguely.

'And are you all there is? What other supernatural creatures are hiding out there? Mermaids?'

'Mermaids?' Elijah repeated incredulously. 'How ridiculous.'

'Well, _excuse me_,' she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes, 'but up until yesterday I didn't know_ you_ existed either! Cut me some slack!'

Elijah had to fight back the amused smile he felt. 'Werewolves and witches also exist,' he revealed, and this time he couldn't hide his smile at seeing her jaw drop open in shock.

'This is… insane,' she breathed out, the biscuits packet now lying forgotten on the table beside her. 'I can't believe there's this whole other paranormal thing going on and nobody knows about it. You guys are crazy good at keeping yourselves hidden!'

'No, but often the people who do discover us only do so before they die,' he corrected, staring at her meaningfully. However, she merely continued to smile up at him happily, kicking her feet back and forth in the air. _So like a child, _he mused to himself. 'You shouldn't be this excited by us. More afraid, really; you should be running for the hills by now,' he told her for what felt like the hundredth time.

Apparently she was also beginning to tire of him telling her to be afraid, because she merely rolled her eyes and made to hop down from the counter. 'Fine. If you don't want me around, then I'll go home and forget this ever happened.'

'No!' he said forcefully, jumping towards her before even thinking it through, his hand wrapping around her wrist as though attempting to force her to stay in place. And with a start, he realised that he didn't want her to leave- Elijah was actually beginning to enjoy the knowledge that this insignificant little human girl was impressed by him. It took him only a second longer to assess that by the proud smile she was trying to hide that this reaction had been one that she wanted- she didn't really want to leave, either.

He let go of her arm very suddenly, as though it had burned him, and fell back against the counter opposite her. She couldn't be the innocent human he'd taken her for- this girl was enchanting him somehow, forcing him to react to her the way that she wanted, that had to be what was happening! But even as he thought it, Elijah knew it couldn't be true. Amelia's growing excitement and surprise at the information he was revealing to her was too sincere to be faked. So if this wasn't her fault, then what was happening to him?

All he knew was that it was a good thing that she didn't want to leave him yet- if she did, he was unsure he would allow her to. He needed to interrogate her further and discover what it was about her that drew him so strongly.

He was broken out of his musings by his phone buzzing beside him on the counter, and he hurriedly picked it up to see a message from Jonas. He had been intending to go to the witch's home yesterday when he left town, but the tiny girl sitting on his kitchen counter had put a sudden halt on his plans. He acknowledged in annoyance that after his 24 hour break, he could no longer delay his trip to Jonas, and despite this knowledge, a strong feeling of distaste welled up inside of him at the thought of leaving Amelia so soon.

He had spoken before he'd even made the conscious decision to do so.

'How would you like to come on a small trip with me, Amelia?'

The small human girl tilted her head to the side, looking up at him in curiosity. 'How small?'

'To Louisiana.'

Her eyes widened in surprise. 'Well, not such a small trip, then!' she said, and he realised belatedly that she was teasing him. 'Sounds like an adventure- I've never been to Louisiana before. How long for?'

'That's undetermined at this time. I'm not sure how long my business will keep me there.' He didn't add that so long as he was there, she would be with him, despite what she may have wanted.

Amelia nodded slowly, looking as though she was thinking deeply. 'Well, that's okay. I'm sure nobody at the bakery will- _Oh_!' she gasped, her hands flying up to her cover her mouth. 'The _bakery_! Oh my God! I was meant to be there hours ago! Oh no, Gabe and Danni and the others must be so worried about me…'

Frowning, Elijah watched her fret as she jumped down from the counter. He knew of Gabriel Morgan and Danielle Zachary from his time watching Amelia at the bakery. He'd watched the idiotic male flirt incessantly with her and the crude female speak of her sexual conquests seemingly endlessly. Frankly, he wondered why Amelia bothered to maintain a friendship with the two of them.

At the thought of them, a possessive wave of emotion washed over him, and he had to clench his fists by his side in an attempt to keep it at bay. He didn't want her speaking with them. He didn't want her speaking with _anyone_.

He knew this was irrational and that Amelia wouldn't like it, so he violently pushed away his urge to keep her away from the rest of the world. Instead, he said stiffly 'Your bag, with your phone inside of it, are under the bed you awoke in. You have fifteen minutes and then we need to leave. I'll assume it's obvious enough that you shouldn't try to tell them anything.'

* * *

'Moody fucking man,' Amelia muttered in annoyance as she trudged up the spiral staircase towards the room she had woken up in. _Moody fucking vampire, _she corrected mentally, entering the room and dropping down to her knees to look under the bed. As he'd said, her bag lay there, and she hastily pulled it out, digging through it until she found her phone.

When she held it in her hands, she paused for a moment, trying to mentally prepare herself for the oncoming storm. Even as she paused, her phone vibrated, and she glanced down at the screen to see 23 missed calls and 34 missed messages. The sight made her wince- she hated worrying her friends.

Gabriel answered the business phone on the first ring. 'Morning, you've reached Gabe's bakery, and you have the honour of speaking to the man himself. How can I help ya?'

'Gabriel,' she said nervously, and in a second he was yelling. His voice switched from his usual bubbly tone to one of fear.

'AMELIA! Oh my God, where are you?! Are you okay?!'

'I'm fine, Gabe, I swear, I-' she began, only to be cut off.

'We've been calling you all day! Your neighbour said she didn't hear you come home last night, and then you just didn't show up to work and nobody's been able to reach you! God, we even called the police but they said you have to be missing for 24 hours before they can do anything. Can you believe that? You could've been dead by the time 24 hours had passed! And I told them- I told them 'you don't know my Amelia, she doesn't do stuff like this- never even been late a damn day in her life-' and then he said- you'll _never_ guess what he said- he said-'

'Gabriel!' she snapped, cutting off his rambling. He had a habit of continually talking if nobody stopped him. 'Gabe, listen to me-'

'Is that Amelia?!' a voice called from the other end of the phone, and before Gabriel even answered the person had snatched the phone away from him and began talking. 'AMELIA CRANE! Where have you been?! Are you okay?!'

'Danni, I'm fine- I'm absolutely 100% fine, I swear to you, I just-' Amelia stopped suddenly, the realisation hitting her that she had no idea what to tell them. _Sorry, I got attacked by a group of men last night and then I met a vampire, whose house I've been sleeping in and who I just had a lovely conversation about life with over biscuits. _

She couldn't tell them anything. Even if she did, they'd fret and think she had gone insane. Not only that, but Amelia felt too bad every time she lied to them, and though she was a good liar they knew her well enough that they saw straight through it. So she couldn't tell the truth, but she couldn't lie to them either. What was she supposed to do?

Apparently, the silence had gone on long enough for the two on the other end of the phone.

'Amelia, you scared the shit out of us today, alright?! So if you haven't been beaten up by some stranger and left for dead in an alley or suffered any of the other potential horrific circumstances I've been imagining, I swear to God, I am going to smack you so damn hard you'll have bruises on that pretty little face for weeks!' Gabriel yelled, and Amelia winced.

'I'm so, so sorry, you guys,' she said desperately, finally making a decision. 'I promise I'm okay, but I'm going to need some time off of work-'

'How much time?' Danielle interrupted.

'I don't know.'

'Well, why do you need it?'

'I can't tell you. Not right now.'

There was complete silence. 'Are you fucking kidding me?' Gabriel eventually demanded. '_You can't tell us_?'

'Listen, you two have known me for a really, really long time. You know I would never do anything like this to you unless I had to. And I just- if I knew more, I would tell you, but I don't… so I can't.'

Again, there was silence on the other end of the line. 'You're safe?' Danielle asked hesitantly. 'You're really okay?'

'I'm really okay.'

'If you need us to call the police again, we can do that-' Gabriel began, but Amelia cut him off.

'Really, Gabriel, I'm okay,' she said forcefully. 'Actually, I think I'm more than okay… I'm happy. I'm kind of excited.'

That was all it took for Danielle. 'Well,' she said, her voice back to the chipper tone Amelia was used to hearing. 'This is all very mysterious, isn't it! You're kinda making it sound like you're in a James Bond movie- which would be A-Okay with me, because the guy in the last Bond movie was totally hot-'

'Just promise to call, okay? Don't drop off the grid again, please?' Gabriel said, his voice still stressed, and Amelia smiled.

'I promise. I'll make sure to call.' _I hope I can keep that promise._

'Oh, hey Gabe, I think there are some customers out front who want to talk to you,' Amelia heard Danielle say to the man. There was a brief silence before Danielle began speaking to Amelia again and she assumed Gabriel had left.

'Okay, I don't even know what's happening and I'm excited! You better tell me _everything_ when you get back!' Danielle laughed. 'I'll keep Gabriel from stressing too much and pestering you while you're away, but only because you covered for me when I was in Vegas during my brother's engagement dinner.'

Amelia laughed into the phone. 'Don't worry, I'll tell you everything!' _Or as much as I can, _she thought, glancing up to see Elijah standing in the doorway_. _'I gotta go now, but I'll call you as soon as I can.'

'Ooooh!' Danielle squealed. 'Have fun on your little getaway. I love you, even though I think worrying about you this morning gave me several grey hairs.'

Amelia rolled her eyes, deciding not to acknowledge that with a response. 'Love you, too, Danni. Say goodbye to Gabe from me.'

She hung up the phone and slipped it back into her purse, only noticing then that Elijah was holding a familiar looking travel bag.

'Have you been to my house?!' Amelia demanded, and he held his hand out to help her to her feet, which she didn't hesitate to take.

'Your neighbour was kind enough to help me,' he said, and she didn't have time to voice her confusion before he continued, 'come, our plane is waiting at the airport.'

Amelia stopped dead, her eyes widening with the fear the Elijah kept expecting to elicit from her, though not for this particular reason. 'Plane?!'


End file.
